Political leaders, activists call on BBC to drop UK’s Eurovision entrant who blamed Israel for genocide

In the midst of a sharp rise in anti-Semitic activities across Europe and the United States in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war, activists and the British Conservative Party have called on the BBC to drop the United Kingdom’s entrant for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest after he was accused of endorsing a letter which blamed Israel of practicing apartheid and genocide. Olly Alexander, who was announced as the UK entrant only last week, was one of 1,400 people and organizations to sign a statement by Voices4 London “standing in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation movement.” The letter, which came out less than two weeks after the October 7 massacre, accused Israel of committing “unspeakable crimes against humanity” in the war against Hamas and of being an apartheid regime since its inception 75 years ago. “Current events simply are an escalation of the state of Israel’s apartheid regime, which acts to ethnically cleanse the land. Since the violent creation of the state 75 years ago, the Israeli military and Israeli settlers have continued to terrorize Palestinian people,” reads the letter endorsed by Alexander, the UK’s entrant for the contest. But, the letter does not refer to the October 7 massacre or any Palestinian terrorism. It includes, however, a brief mention of the hostages being held in Gaza, but does not mention Hamas at all. The letter also accuses Israel of “pink washing” and implies that the criminalization of homosexuality in the Palestinian territories has its source in Western colonialism. “Queer and trans-Palestinians have long highlighted that pink washing plays a significant role in Zionist propaganda – in the presentation of Israel as a ‘civilized democratic bastion of LGBTQIA+ rights’, in direct contrast with ‘barbaric, repressive, and intolerant’ Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities,” reads the letter, calling this “a colonial logic that uses racist and Islamophobic narratives to justify Western and white supremacist colonization.” It is a well-known fact that homosexuality is criminalized in Palestinian territories, and LGBTQ+ Palestinians are often soft targets of violent hate crimes. Several LGBTQ+ organizations in Israel have special initiatives that help LGBTQ+ Palestinians escape the Palestinian territories. Interestingly, the letter also insisted that being anti-Zionist in no way promotes anti-Semitism and that the signatories of the letter stand against any harassment and discrimination against Jewish communities. Those who equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism are accused by Voice4 London of “unthinking philo-semitism,” with the letter adding that this “is simply the other face of anti-Semitism.” Philo-Semitism is a term referring to “a particular appreciation for the Jewish people based on ‘positive’ characteristics of Jews,” according to the Anti-Defamation League. While philo-Semitism can be used in a benign and positive way, it may also be used to embrace or justify acceptance of Jewish stereotypes and anti-Semitic tropes. The term first came into being in Germany to refer derogatorily to opponents of anti-Semitism, similar to the term “Jew-lover”.